A credit card sues you and you get a notice in the mail to go to court. What happens if you don't show up?

Question

What are my options? I have no assets/no money to pay/settle. My car is 12 years old.

I would appreciate the best answer that you can give me.

Thank you for your answers. How can the court find out where you work to do wage warnishment if you have never disclosed that information or if you recently changed jobs?

Is it worth sending a settlement letter now? Should I sent it to the collection agency or the original creditor (B of A)?

Answer 1

If you're given a summons and you either do not respond to the summons, or you do not show up to court, usually a default judgement is rendered against you -- that means if you don't go -- you have to pay whatever they are suing you for, plus the possibility of interest.

Answer 2

If you don't show up, the creditor wins the judgement by default and file to garnish your wages. So, it's in your best interest to show up. You can let the representing attorney know where you are financially and what you can afford for the monthly payment. As long as you're trying, they will accept a reasonable payment amount. If you don't have a job, the judgement will stay open and accrue interest until the debt is paid.
Just because the creditor wins the judgement, it does not give them the right to automatically come to your home and claim your property. They must exhaust all other avenues to collect first. The creditors must then file a Writ of Execution/Execution of Judgement to claim any property or banking accounts.
And you won't go to jail for not paying.
As the last person said, the New Hire law can be used to find someone. Although, the New Hire law has been around for quite some time (Since 1997, some states where est. earlier). While it's more widely used for child support enforcement, it's also used to prevent overpayment in Social Security and Unemployment benefits.
No, you can't hide forever.

Answer 3

A Default Judgment is entered for the full amount that is owed. Usually credit cards are unsecured to they are unlikely to go after your 12 year old car as it would be little or no value.

However, if you are currently employed they can request a garnishment of your paycheck (Courts usually determine the amount by how much you owe, what you make and how often you are paid).

There are legimate credit counseling services that you can go to that might be able to help you work out a solution to avoid the above, but the most important thing to keep in mind when looking for one is that they DO NOT charge YOU a fee; the fee is absorbed by the agency, in this case, your creditor and usually is 20% of the payment arrangement that is worked out. By doing this you may be able to minimize attorney fees and court costs, which can end up amounting to more that what was originally owed, and usually the interest rate and any penalties for late payments may be be reduced or eliminated.

Any Judgment will remain on your credit report for 7 years years and depending upon where you live, the creditor could come after you for the Judgment + attorney fees + Court costs + interest determined by the Judge at the time of Judgment during that time.

One thing to keep in mind, especially if you are young, is that more and more potential employers are pulling credit reports before hiring employees and if you have an unpaid judgment on your record, they might select another less qualified candidate over you as it makes you appear irresponsible.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Every employer reports the new hires withing fifteen days of the hire date ( a new law that they just passed). This is done to catch exactly people like you who have garnishment on their wages or child support that they are trying to avoid. If you don't go to court the credit card company will win and will get judgment against you. Then they can track you down and garnish your wages. Eventually they will catch up with you-now or five years from now. This judgment is good forever. And you can't run from them forever and you can't change your jobs every few month. Just pay what you owe them, why are you refusing to pay?

Answer 5

If don't show up to court you get a default judgement against you and you are gonna have to pay court cost as well as the balanced owed. This happened to me, and they got a court order to view my bank accounts which they garnish the money from my account. My advice to you is to go to court where they will attempt to work out a payment plan/settlement.

Answer 6

If you do not show, than you lose automatically. The court will send you a notice for you to pay. Some states may actually issue a warrant for your arrest.
If you have no assetts, the court is understanding of that and will usually allow you to work out a payment plan.

Answer 7

Nothing will happen if you have NO assets...this is merely the opportunity to "tell your side of the story". However, if you are working they can put a lean on your paycheck. If you are a student, or otherwise destitute, you might want to call a legal service and see if they can help. Many do this for free - you need to take care of this. Good luck.

Answer 8

They can get a judgment against you. Eventually this can lead to them garnishing your wages or tax returns. Don't worry. This is the absolute worst they can do.

Since it's a civil case, there is no penalty for you not showing up except that the judgment will be agaist you for whatever they are asking. These other people saying you'll be fined or arrested for not going are confusing it with criminal court.

Answer 9

It just still make you liable for your debit. Some time the company will take off the interest and have you pay the rest of the balance. You know if you just send them $5 a month and they exspect it your good to go.

Answer 10

they will simply take a judgement out against you. meaning they can come and take anything you own now and in the future to pay off the debt. if they take out a judgement, you wont be able to buy anything for quite a while. at least until the judgement is paid off.